Wild Horses

~WILD HORSES~

The All Rolling Stones Band

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who we are/Bios

No, we don’t play country music! Formed in 2007 this quintet got together to perform songs made famous by the greatest rock n’ roll band in the world…The Rolling Stones.

From multi-million selling hits to obscure deep tracks Wild Horses combs the Stones prolific discography for tunes that will represent the longevity and creative evolution of The Stones. Every performance includes the standards you expect along with nuggets you won’t hear anyone else play…anywhere! Sing along, dance along, you’ll love the vibe and the high energy performance Wild Horses gives to every audience. It’s a gas, gas, gas!

Bobby O’Brien ~ Lead Vocals

Bobby O’Brien, “always a bridesmaid….” The lead singer of Wild Horses says his musical career has always been a string of "near misses” going back over thirty years. The first live music I ever played was folk music in Catholic Church basements and Jesuit coffee houses. I was totally into Simon and Garfunkel, early Dylan, Leonard Cohen.

After High school and into college I did sound for a local band, Cloudburst and started working at PCI Studios on Atlantic Avenue where I also recorded demos of original material with the “usual suspects” of the local music scene.

In 1979 Capital Records was close to signing me as a singer-songwriter but decided that all 5 songs I had recorded sounded like 5 different types of music and they passed.

Bearsville Records (Foghat, Todd Rundgren) also expressed an interest and at the last minute did a 180. In the early 80’s I wrote a number of songs with local musician and producer, Tony Gross (Head East, Beyond). Those songs now reside on a dusty old reel of 2” tape somewhere in the archives of Tony’s recording studio.

In 1986 I wrote “Only For the Moment” with Scott Kreyer and Annie Woods of the group Toronto. The song was published by The Lowery Group (Joe South, B.J. Thomas, Bertie Higgins) in Atlanta Georgia and was due to be released on Valentines Day 1987 on an album Scott and Annie recorded in Atlanta. Sonny Limbo, the producer and champion of the rock material in a country music publishing house died suddenly and the project lost its momentum.

The masters from those sessions remained dormant for twenty years until Scott Kreyer got a call from a gentleman by the name of Brad Trew from Canada who was starting a small online record company called Cyclone Records. He wondered if he could re-release earlier Toronto material. Much to his surprise he was offered a chance to remix and release the “lost “ Lowery tapes on his fledgling label. Brad jumped at the chance and did a stellar remix of the unreleased material. The result was an album called Live It Up which is currently available and Only for the Moment finally saw the light of day after two decades on the shelf.

One night at the age of 46 I stood looking out at the snow blowing around the streetlights and something inside me said that to not find a way back into my lifelong musical passion would be a sin. In 2002 Stone Soup was born with Scott Kreyer and John Donohue. John remains in the picture with Wild Horses. Stone Soup did about 75% Stones and the rest of the material was various British bands who left their marks in the 60’s and 70’s such as the Kinks, Bowie and Traffic.

Wild Horses, an all out Rolling Stones band is really a dream I’ve had since junior high. To hear the comments from people and see their eyes light up as we cover hit after hit….I know that this time I’m at the right place with the right people at the right time.

John Donohue ~ Guitar, Lap Steel Guitar and Vocals

John is a willing victim of the original British Invasion (1960’s musical version, not the R evolutionary War one). Influenced by the Beatles, Stones, Kinks, and others he extorted a guitar from his grandfather one Christmas and was off to the races. After four guitar lessons he naively volunteered to play at the 4^th grade talent show. Half-way through a balky and uneven rendition of “ America the Beautiful” he lost his place, froze and surrendered his dignity by bolting from the classroom to a cacophony of giggles, guffaws and snide comments from his classmates. He declined to perform in public again until 2002 (about 40 years in musical exile) when he was coaxed out of hiding to join local Stones band Stone Soup, a short-lived and short-sighted venture that left him jaded and bruised emotionally. Ever the trooper, John teamed with Stone Soup lead singer, Bobby O’Brien in an attempt to resurrect the concept of a group of friends who love playing and performing the greatest rock n’ roll ever written. This time John thinks he got it right!

“My band mates are all seriously disturbed, but in a really funny way…it’s a gas, gas, gas!”

Robbie Robinson ~ Guitar

Home: a place to go after the gig is over.

Age: less.

Profession: Doer of stuff.

Hobbies: Watching the wind through binoculars, and exploring the adhesive psychology of burdocks.

Last Book Read: Stones-henge, a Rock-umentary.

Last Accomplishment: Eliminated the signal buzz from buzzing gear.

Quote: "What the…"

Profile: Occurs in most cases when viewed from the side.

Bands: Head East, Greg Lake, Dark Side of the Moon, and ummm… This one! (you were expecting something more impressive?)

Beer: Cold - Toto, I've a feeling we're not in England anymore...

Seriously, played with area group No Camouflage...Past and currant affiliations include Silent 12, Fury, Head East, Greg Lake, Dark Side of The Moon.

Don Strenczewilk ~ Bass

Don is a Rochester, NY native. He played trumpet from age 7 through High School. At 14, he worked the sound and lights for his brother's band, the Electras, which later became Bus Stop, hiding under the stage at clubs because he was underage. At age 16, he began playing bass guitar, but says he really began playing bass after seeing Tim Bogert's playing with Cactus in 1970. Don has played in various bands over the years including The All Night Bluto Band, The Sakanookie Swing Band, Sweet Fall, Unit, Fat City, City Lights, Superman - The Band, The Gene Taylor Band, Night Control, and The Bluetones, and has sat in with the Drifters, Jim and Brian, and Connie Deming.

Dave DeBellis ~ Drums, Percussion and Vocals

I was born a poor black child. It wasn’t until I heard my first Montovani record, that I realized music was my life. I toured with several obscure bands for a while like Zepherus Eek, and Captain Sky Frog, but it wasn’t until I hooked up with Wild Horses that I found my true calling.

Playing Rolling Stones music with a group of extremely talented, incredibly good looking, well packaged, over the hill guys. Well, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Burke McCarthy ~ Keyboard, Guitar and Vocals

Burke McCarthy is pleased to play music in Rochester. There's music in his DNA. Grandmother Irene played a mean stride piano. Father “Max” played sax and produced Opera Under the Stars and Rochester Musical Theater events. They once brought Tommy Dorsey's entire band home one night after the Eastman to jam. As president of the Musicians Union, his father hosted visitors like Lena Horne and Les Paul.

Uncle Bob, a.k.a. “Little Max” played Bass with the Dixieland Ramblers, a band the great Louis Armstrong performed with several times. Mother Esther Mary hosted an annual Labor Day Jazz reunion featuring great musicians like John Albert, Ralph Underborn, and Gap Mangione.

Burke once performed with Harry Chapin and jammed with Khalis Bayan of “Kool and the Gang,” He played piano in Boston upon graduation from college and his climb up the corporate ladder took him to NY, LA and Boston but he always returned to Music City.

Music lives in the next generation. Son Tom plays Bass and Trombone. Daughter Megan is a songbird studying piano & voice under Patricia Alexander at Eastman Community School. Wife Janet, a native Torontonian, manages Windsor Cottage and “Nestings” an interior design consulting service. Musical influences include George Gershwin, Neil Young, Steven Sondheim, Arturo Sandoval, Jeff Tyzik, George Eastman, Chick Corea, and Uncle Max. Burke is pleased to work and perform with Wild Horses.